The One Brought Home
by FabioArtsAndFarts
Summary: Sollux takes home a wild and unusual fish, stunned by its vivid colors. He wants to care for it, but can he succeed when he has trouble just keeping himself alive?
1. Chapter 1

Sollux was grabbing his car keys and heading out, exhausted from a long day's work at the local pet shop. He had spent too many hours trying to convince wealthy parents that their spoiled, bratty children deserved the new golden retriever, or the exotic hippies that their birds were not treated any worse than the employees. He didn't care if he drove himself home asleep- he just wanted to get to his soft, warm bed, pleasantly ignoring the rest of the world.

Of course, like the rest of his life, nothing went according to plan. The manager, a violent, angry, blue woman who inherited the store from her money-seeking mother, barged from the back room. She carried several cardboard boxes that had all been marked with a thick, black "X" on the front.

"Alright my minions, now's the time to show you're truly more than a spineless peasant!" Vriska shouted. Her navy dyed hair waved back and forth almost aggressively. Her eyes glinted with a challenge and drew all the tired, lifeless workers from their napping spots. Most of them checked their watches, and were surprised that it was almost quitting time. Sollux scoffed and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Lazy tools.

Vriska clawed the duct tape off the top of the first box, and drew the prize. Sollux arched an eyebrow and looked at his boss questioningly. His friend, Terezi, peered over his bony shoulder with glee. How did he know she'd like this? Was it the glimmering colors that were reflected in the clear, spotless fish bowl off the exotic species inside, which Vriska gripped stubbornly? Terezi had a thing for neon.

Every box contained a sparkling fish in their empty home, but one in particular drew Sollux in. It could have been the shimmering purple scales that were brighter than all the others, or the way it seemed angry and dissatisfied with life like he was, or even the ostentatious presentation of its gills, but that one was for him.

He had his hands near the bowl quite grabbily before Vriska could bother to explain. She cocked her head and boomed, "Well, Sollux seems to have gotten the message. Why don't we let him tell you, then? How these fish are endangered and we were the only people so _generous_ to take them? How they are also expensive and difficult to care for? And that the environmental corps thought it'd be best for true pet lovers and people dedicated to animals to take them? Hmmmmmmmm, Sollux?"

Sollux turned a stony glare to Vriska. He said nothing but kept his mouth in a taut line.

"Thanks for the info, captain. Since that's what's going down, I'll just take this guy right here. See you in the morning, guys," he said curtly.

Vriska tried to grip the slick glass of Sollux's bowl, but he was too quick and nimble. Gulps of water sloshed over the edge, but Sollux made sure his little…little _Eridan_ stayed perfectly safe. He smiled down at him, almost caringly. He had something to look after. He was responsible for another life.

Wait. The sudden realization hit him. _He was responsible for another life. _The last time something like that had happened, Aradia…

No, it wouldn't end that way. Sollux sucked in a deep breath, which Eridan grew curious about and swam furiously to the surface water. His eyes, wide, round and a pale lilac, dilated almost like a cat as he examined the new owner.

Sollux was sure. Eridan was going to be his grumpy, spoiled fish-best-friend.


	2. Chapter 2

Sollux loaded Eridan's fish bowl into the car carefully, and assured his little friend that he would not let him wash away.

"Don't worry," he said, "I've got you."

He strapped the passenger's seat belt over Eridan, and fastened himself behind the steering wheel. With a sigh and firm squeeze, Sollux slowly put his car into drive. He pulled out cautiously, and never relaxed. He hated driving at night. No, he hated driving at all.

Sollux kept glancing nervously at his fish, who only glubbed about and wiggled his tail in frustration as the water trembled along with the ride. Eridan seemed perfectly fine, except for the fact that he kept swimming straight into his glass walls. What was up with that? Sollux figured he'd find out later when he had access to his laptop.

The drive struck horror and anxiousness into Sollux's gut, and the worst part was he had no choice but to keep going forward. Of course, they made it home with no damage or trouble, but Sollux refused to stop shaking until he had placed Eridan safely on his kitchen counter. Boy, would his roommate be furious to see-

"What the fucking hell is this shit?"

Too late.

As Sollux laid his keys beside the fish bowl and turned to the couch for his laptop, Karkat had sneaked downstairs behind his back. He always did that, to scare his best friend when he came home, but tonight Sollux had caught _him_ by surprise.

Karkat shoved his face to the glass and glowered. "Brought your ugly-ass work home with you?"

Eridan, sensing the rage in Karkat's grumpy, scrunched up face, spread the fins to the side of his body in a "threatening" manner. Sollux sighed and got comfortable in his usual groove of the sofa cushions.

Karkat scoffed and stuck his short, little tongue at Eridan.

"Where'd you pick this one up from? I didn't know there was a place for ridiculously pompous creatures that look like they swam out of a fairy's gaseous asshole," Karkat growled. Eridan flashed him yet again and swam in circles aggressively, to which no one paid much attention.

Sollux tapped his way to his browser and remarked, "You would know what that looks like, wouldn't you KK?"

Karkat swiveled for the refrigerator and let the door bang wide open against the wall. He scavenged for the water purifier, and slammed it beside Eridan's glass. The fish jumped and his plump, round body forced bubbles to the surface.

Karkat said, "I bet I could interpret it correctly by looking at this fruity twerp."

Sollux watched Karkat smash a plastic cup down beside the purifier, and dump water in until it was almost pooling off the top. He replaced the pitcher in their fridge, slammed the heavy door, and crashed beside Sollux on the couch.

"Looking up fun trivia for your new space waste?"

"Yeah. I kinda, dunno, don't want it to die."

"Does it have a name?" Karkat wondered.

"Eridan."

The fish swam to Sollux's voice until he smacked against the barrier of his bowl. Sollux was surprised and puzzled. He had said Eridan's name maybe once out loud, and the little guy already knew it was meant for him?

"This fish is something special," Sollux mused.

Karkat grumbled a sentence or two about everything being "special" to Sollux and cranked the television on.

Sollux felt a grin rising at the corners of his cheeks, something he hadn't done genuinely since Aradia. He found a handy page about Eridan's fish type, what it was capable of, and how it was meant to perform. Perform? Yes. Sollux was going to train his little buddy, and they would cream all the competition. He just needed the right equipment.


End file.
